Sheet stack receptacle

ABSTRACT

A receptacle for supporting a stack of sheets which are to be fed into a reproduction machine has an edge margin guide which is movable with respect to the base of the receptacle so as to accommodate stacks of different lengths or widths. To effect this movement of the guide, a rotatably mounted bar extends parallel to the length or width direction of the stack as appropriate, the bar having a series of recesses which merge smoothly into the remainder of the bar in a direction at right angles to the bar. A member mounted for movement with the guide engages one of the recesses to lock and is the guide in a desired position. To move the member out of the recess, the bar is rotated, after which the member is moved along the surface of the bar to another position.

United States Patent [1 1 Miller [451 Nov. 25, 1975 SHEET STACK RECEPTACLE Laurence G. Miller, Drybrook, England [73] Assignee: Rank Xerox Ltd., London, England [22] Filed: Nov. 19, 1973 [21] Appl. No 417,023

[75] Inventor:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 1, 1972 [52] U.S. Cl 271/171; 271/223 [51] Int. CI. B6511 1/00 [58] Field of Search 271/171, 223, 224, 170

United Kingdom 55725/72 Primary Examiner-Richard A. Schacher Assistant Examiner-Robert Saifer Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James J. Ralabate; Bernard A. Chiama; Earl T. Reichert [57] ABSTRACT A receptacle for supporting a stack of sheets which are to be fed into a reproduction machine has an edge margin guide which is movable with respect to the base of the receptacle so as to accommodate stacks of different lengths or widths. To effect this movement of the guide, a rotatably mounted bar extends parallel to the length or width direction of the stack as appropriate, the bar having a series of recesses which merge smoothly into the remainder of the bar in a direction at right angles to the bar. A member mounted for movement with the guide engages one of the recesses to lock and is the guide in a desired position. To move the member out of the recess, the bar is rotated, after which the member is moved along the surface of the bar to another position.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures I Sheet 1 of2 3,921,972

US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 U.S. Patent N0v.25, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,921,972

SHEET STACK RECEPTACLE This invention relates generally to a locating device, and has particular application to paper supports which have a movable edge guide which is required to be located in position.

Paper processing machines which use cut sheets of paper usually have a paper support on which a stack of cut sheets is mounted, the cut sheets being fed usually from the top of the stack one at a time for processing. In order to ensure correct feeding of the sheets, it is usual to provide edge margin guides for the paper support so that the stack is kept upright and sheets cannot become displaced sideways.

When it is desired to use sheets of different widths in the processing machine, it is necessary to move one or both of the edge margin guides on the support tray in order to accommodate sheet stacks of different widths. In order that the edge margin guides can provide a proper support for the stack, the guides should be placed accurately in position by the operator so that the space between the guides is exactly equal to the width of the stack without the sheets in the stack being compressed, and also the guides should not move after they have been placed in position by the operator.

Similar considerations apply to the adjustment of an edge margin guide at the side of the stack remote from the side from which sheets are fed forward from the stack in order to accomodate sheet stacks of different lengths.

According to the invention there is provided a receptacle comprising a base for supporting a stack of sheets an edge margin guide for abutting a side of the stack, which guide is movable relative to the base to accomodate stacks of different lengths or widths, a bar extending parallel to the length or width direction of the stack as appropriate below the base of the receptacle and a member mounted for movement with the edge margin guide and engaging the surface of said bar over the range of positions of the edge margin guide relative to the base.

The bar may have an uninterrupted surface along its length, or it may be provided with a series of recesses with which said member may engage, Said member is conveniently spring loaded. In this case, it is convenient to mount the bar for rotation about its axis, and to form the recesses so that they smoothly merge into the remainder of the bar in the direction at right angles to the axis of the bar so that the spring loaded member will be lifted out of the recess by rotation of the bar and can then move along the surface of the bar in the axial direction. When it is desired to locate the member in another recess, the bar is rotated back so that the member is in line with the recess, whereupon the edge margin guide will be located at the desired position when the member springs into the recess. The bar is conveniently of generally cylindrical shape, but could have other sections such as square section.

An example of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of a paper tray.

A fuller description of this tray and of the sheet feeding device.

The paper tray 151 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a base plate 152, a front margin guide 153 which is fixed to the base plate 152, a rear margin guide 154 which is movable relative to the base plate 152 and a right hand edge margin guide 164 which is also movable relative to the base plate 152. The rear edge margin guide 154 is mounted on two pins 155 passing through a slot in the base plate 152 and attached to a block 156 below the base plate 152. The guide 154 is provided with a plate 157 which extends partially over the base plate 152, which together with the pins 155 and the block 156 provide a firm mounting for the rear edge margin guide on the base plate 152. The plate 157 is provided with an index 158 which moves relative to a scale 159 on the plate 152 to indicate the separation of the rear guide 154 from the front guide 153.

The right hand guide 164 is similarly mounted on the base plate 152 by means of two pins 165 and a block 166 for movement along a slot 167 in the plate 152. The guide 164 has a plate 169 mounted with a index 168 adjacent a scale 171 marked on the base of the tray, indicating the length of the sheet which can be accommodated on the tray with the guide 164 in that position. The guide 164 is provided with an overhanging lug 172 at its upper end to prevent an excessive height of sheets being placed on the tray which might prevent feed rollers which engage the top sheet of the stack on the tray from working satisfactorily.

The block 156 is provided with a spring loaded located lug 201 extending from one side, which lug is adapted to engage a register bar 202 located on the underside of the paper tray 151. The register bar 202 is generally cylindrical, having two series of recesses 203, extending perpendicular the axis of the bar along two opposed sides of the bar. The recesses merge smoothly into the cylindrical surface of the bar in the direction transverse to the axis of the bar. The recesses 203 are located to engage the spring loaded lug 201 of the block 156 at positions corresponding to the separation of the front and rear-guides of the tray to accomodate standard size widths. One line of recesses is provided appropriate to English sizes, and the other line appropriate to metric sizes. 7

The register bar 202 is rotatable by means of a handle- 204 on the front of the tray (see FIG. 1). A leaf spring 205 mounted on the under side of the tray engages a short square section portion 206 of the register bar 202 in order releasably to retain the bar in any one of four symetrically spaced positions, two opposed positions corresponding to the alignment of the two lines of recesses with the spring loaded lug 201. Symbols M and E are marked on the tray adajcent the handle, the appropriate one of which will be opposite a marker on the handle 204 when the corresponding series of metric or English size recesses 203 is located in line with the spring loaded plunger 191.

When it is required to adjust the position of the rear side of the tray, the handle 204 is rotated through 90 so that the spring loaded plunger 201 is ejected from a recess 203 by sliding up the boundary of the recess which merges smoothly into the generally cylindrical surface of the bar 202. The rear guide 154 of the tray is then moved to approximately the newly required position the lug sliding along the cylindrical surface of the bar, after which the register bar 202 is turned so that the symbol on the handle is opposite the M or E on the tray. This rotation of the bar 202 will bring the appropriate set of recesses 203 into line with the spring loaded lug 201. The rear guide 154 is now moved further towards its required position, at which the spring loaded lug 201 will spring into the appropriate recess 203. This arrangement has the advantage that the sepa- 3 ration of the front and rear guides 153, 154 of the tray is controlled, and (unless the operator homes in on the wrong recess) the stack of sheets in the tray cannot be left too loosely or too tightly in the tray, either of which conditions would adversely effect the accuracy of feeding of the sheets.

A similar register bar 207 is provided to control the location of the block of the right hand end guide. The guides can be located at other positions by leaving the bar 202 or 207 with its cylindrical surface opposite the lug 201, but in this case the accuracy of location is left to the operator who must line up the index 158 or 168 with the scale 159 or 171.

What we claim is:

l. A receptacle comprising a base for supporting a stack of sheets, an edge margin guide disposed perpendicular to the base for abutting a side of the stack, the

guide being mounted so as to be movable relative to the base to accommodate stacks of different dimensions, a longitudinal bar disposed below the base and formed around an axis which is parallel to the direction of movement of the guide, the bar being mounted to rotate around the axis and having a plurality of recesses formed in the surface of the bar which are perpendicular to and spaced along the axis, each recess having an has a generally cylindrical end which merges into the surface of the bar, and a lug mounted for movement with the edge margin guide and biased into engagement with the bar over the range of positions of the edge margin guide relative to the base, the lug being adapted to engage a selected one of the recesses to retain the guide in a desired position, whereby the guide can be moved from one desired position to another desired position by rotating the bar so that the lug passes through the merging end of a first selected recess and out of engagement with the recess, moving the guide and lug along the axis of the bar to a position opposite a second selected recess, and rotating the bar so that the lug passes through the merging end of the second selected recess and into engagement therewith.

2. A receptacle as claimed in claim 1, and further including means for releasably retaining the bar in a desired position.

3. A receptacle as claimed in claim 2, comprising a handle mounted on the bar adjacent one edge of the base.

4. A receptacle as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bar cross-section. 

1. A receptacle comprising a base for supporting a stack of sheets, an edge margin guide disposed perpendicular to the base for abutting a side of the stack, the guide being mounted so as to be movable relative to the base to accommodate stacks of different dimensions, a longitudinal bar disposed below the base and formed around an axis which is parallel to the direction of movement of the guide, the bar being mounted to rotate around the axis and having a plurality of recesses formed in the surface of the bar which are perpendicular to and spaced along the axis, each recess having an end which merges into the surface of the bar, and a lug mounted for movement with the edge margin guide and biased into engagement with the bar over the range of positions of the edge margin guide relative to the base, the lug being adapted to engage a selected one of the recesses to retain the guide in a desired position, whereby the guide can be moved from one desired position to another desired position by rotating the bar so that the lug passes through the merging end of a first selected recess and out of engagement with the recess, moving the guide and lug along the axis of the bar to a position opposite a second selected recess, and rotating the bar so that the lug passes through the merging end of the second selected recess and into engagement therewith.
 2. A receptacle as claimed in claim 1, and further including means for releasably retaining the bar in a desired position.
 3. A receptacle as claimed in claim 2, comprising a handle mounted on the bar adjacent one edge of the base.
 4. A receptacle as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bar has a generally cylindrical cross-section. 